Tanzanian civil servants work remotely after security warning on election day

ISTANBUL

Tanzanian civil servants began working remotely on Thursday following a security warning in Dar es Salaam, after tensions rose amid the Oct. 29 election.

“The Government directs that tomorrow, 30 October 2025, all public servants in the country shall work from home except those whose duties require them to be at their work stations as directed by their employers,” Gerson Msigwa, a government spokesperson, said in a statement on US social media platform Instagram late Wednesday.

The move came after a security alert and curfew were issued by police to residents of Dar es Salaam, the largest city in the East African country.

The statement urged private sector employers to allow employees to work from home and advised citizens without essential reasons to stay indoors.

Protests erupted during Tanzania’s general election on Wednesday, as citizens voted for a president, 264 National Assembly members, and local councilors, with voters expressing frustration over what they described as a lack of meaningful competition.

Global internet watchdog Netblocks confirmed a nationwide internet disruption, citing live network data that corroborated reports of a digital blackout.

Tanzania’s first female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, is facing her first elections since assuming office in 2021 after the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli.

In April, the leading opposition party CHADEMA was disqualified from this year’s poll after it failed to sign the electoral code of conduct by the required deadline.

Its chairman Tundu Lissu was jailed the same month on treason charges, which he denies.

His arrest followed an opposition campaign of “no reforms, no election.”

In late August, Tanzania’s electoral commission rejected the candidacy of opposition presidential candidate Luhaga Mpina of the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT Wazalendo), the country’s third-largest political party, following a complaint alleging the party had breached its own nomination procedures.